You've gotten some excellent advice, but I wanted to add that if you haven't already, you may want to have your thyroid checked. When mine went funky, I had severe swelling issues - so much so that they thought I had the beginning signs of congestive heart failure. Once my thyroid was regulated again, it disappeared. I notice when I am not being careful, it pops back up.

What did your doctor say about your edema? I would have been talking to him about that too, as it can be indicitive of some serious health problems. I was suffering from edema too, and was worried about my heart/kidneys, but it's going away now that I'm back on a healthy diet, so I'm feeling a lot more relieved about that. I've only been dieting for 16 days and the swelling is almost almost gone.

I can't answer to the heartburn, but my thoughts are:

1) Water - you don't mention how much you drink, but I usually only retain water when I don't drink enough.

2) Eat more - seriously. I still manage to lose eating 2000 - 2300 (depends the exercise of the day). On the estimating of what you used to eat. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it could be. I was (somewhat) in denial of what I ate, however, when I started calorie counting it showed me I had to tighten up on the small stuff as well. ie. a tsp of butter weighs 5 grams - I always put the frying pan on the scale, zero it, and add my tsp of butter. Left to my own devices I'd likely be using 2tsp, but counting only one. The little things can add up. So, try at least 2000 calories a day (making sure it's actually 2000) and try to use (if possible) less processed foods. Honestly, I'd start higher, but I know that freaks a lot of people out. If I can eat as much as possible and still lose weight I know that I'm going to.

3) Heartburn - I used to have serious heartburn issues, but they literally have disappeared. I suspect it's just because I'm eating better foods.

Back to the food for a second....

When I eat less, I move around less (ie. veg on the couch more) and lose less weight.

When I eat more, I move around more (more energy) and I lose more weight.

I know that it doesn't work that way for everyone, but it definitely works that way for me.

Heartburn - You're changing your diet and this could mean your body is literally cleansing which means you can have heartburn if you have a few food intolerance you didn't know you had before. Case in point, I went on a juice feast to start my journey. I was noticing that every time, and I didn't notice this before, I had pineapple I would get terrible heartburn and even at some point the shakes. Apparently I have a nice sized intolerance for pineapple and I had no idea until my diet changed. Try to determine when you get your indigestion. What did you eat? Write it down in a food diary so you can pinpoint exactly what foods are not agreeing with you.

Swelling - Sometimes my feet swell if I'm hot, like in the summer, hormonal, and/or doing a lot of exercise. For example when I get back into walking, there will be a day or two where my feet will swell a bit, but it will go away with no worries.

Extreme Hunger - When you start to change your diet, you literally go through a period where your body seems to have a tantrum. You crave things, you're hungry, and even moody because of it. Your body is going through a change and it wants food and it will let you know in any way that it can. I agree that you can increase your calorie intake and then decrease it when you feel ready. When I did my juice feast I had extreme hunger and cravings the first 4 days, but I kept sucking down juice and it made it a bit better. About day 5 of it I had gotten through the worst and moved on to other things.

And it may not be 'eating more' but eating things that fill you up. Find foods that are healthy and filling for you.

For me personally, I cannot do 2,000 calories a day. I could do 900 to 1500, but that is because of how my body works.

Although you don't need to do 2000, 900 is way too low - unless you're under medical supervision. 1200 is usually what's considered a bare minimum for women to get what their body requires. And that's for women who are of an acceptable weight.

There's a weight loss show on here in Canada - The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp. They take women who are around 10 pounds overweight, put them on an intense (usually) 90 min a day workout regime for 6 days a week. They always do pretty much the same diet 1400 or 1500 calories a day. And 4 weeks later, most have lost the 10 pounds.

I'll expand on my calorie intake..what I meant is:

I say 900 - 1500 because I am primarily eating raw food and I also average it out. Meaning there are some days I find myself struggling with hunger and other days I just don't feel like eating much at all. I basically eat when my body tells me to and on average I'm probably between those numbers on calorie intake daily.

I don't think the days that I am at 900 calories put me into bad situation or etc is my point. I think some people cannot do anything below 2,000 calories on average, but my point was that I seem to be comfortable and still loosing weight at below that. I really believe it depends on the person and the way their bodies work.

LOL I also remember when I was juice feasting I was struggling with trying to get my calorie intake to 1000-1300 a day. I mean when you are drinking veggies a lot of them don't hold a lot in the calorie department lol. I kept talking to my juices and going "man...cucumber and celery you're letting me down here...i need to get more calories!" I still lost a lot of weight during that time period and since then I've been learning how to get all the veggies, good fats, and more in my body. Still, it is hard for me to get above a certain point in calorie intake, so my body tends to work the way I described it above.

Hi there! I didn't have time to read all of the replies, just kind of glanced at them. Two things I noticed are that you tend to eat lots of processed foods and fast food, even though you're keeping your calories low. These types of foods are filled with sodium, even if they are low calories usually. Also, any type of carbonated beverage has sodium as well. Any type of processed lunchmeat or cheese will also contain hidden sodium. Basically anything except fresh food has extra sodium in it. So cutting out many of these types of foods will really help with your swelling.

The other thing that I think you already know is that 1200 calories is way too low for you right now.

I think you are wise to see your doctor as well. Swelling and heartburn, and acid reflux can also indicate heart disease. Many times doctors overlook these symptoms and treat someone for digestive disorders when in reality, for a woman, these symptoms can indicate a heart problem. Heart disease symptoms in woman are vastly different than those in men. It pays to be careful when it comes to this, so please ask your doctor if you have not done so already.

Good luck and take care of yourself!

Hello tcsmart1985, I agree with everyone else. You need more calories and drink your water.
I was told take your weight and divide it in half. that is the number of ounces of water you should drink in a day. Say your weight is 300 then divide by 2 equals 150, then you should drink 150 ounces of water a day. It sounds like a lot, but it really is not bad. Also, not sure what kind of diet pill you are taking, but sometimes not a good idea. Check with your doctor about maybe a water pill. I would imagine if you start getting in your calories and water intake, you will see
noticeable differences on your swelling. I always feared if I drank more I would retain it. I think checking your thyroid is a good idea also.

Yes i would agree that 1200 calories is way too low....that wouldnt give you the energy you need to do physical activity..being overweight our bodies need more calories just to survive: eat, breathe, sleep etc...

I get swelling sometimes too,, a trick i found was to add a wedge of lemon in my drinking water and it helps ALOT no more swelling for me!!

i found this site helpful,, they also have a calorie calculator and it gives an idea of what the calories are for you to sustain life.
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/cal...alculator.htm#